Caldwell Zoo’s graphic and frightening Halloween displays are making a beloved family destination distressing for young children for more than a month each fall.

Decorations include simulated mutilated body parts, headless figures, menacing characters hanging from trees, and towering skeletons and and other spooky characters with glowing red eyes. Parents have reported children leaving in tears, expressing fear at bedtime, and asking anxious questions about death and dying after seeing the displays. During visits, some families have had to cover their children’s eyes, hurry past frightening decorations, or completely skip animal exhibits because of the surrounding decorations.

Families with annual memberships face a frustrating choice: expose their children to frightening displays or avoid the zoo during some of the most pleasant outdoor weather of the year. Children visiting on school field trips may also encounter these displays without their parents knowing beforehand.

One Tyler mom put it this way- “To a toddler, a scary Halloween mask isn't just a costume—their developing brains process it as a very real, high-stakes threat. Because their minds encode intense emotions with hyper-vivid detail, frightening imagery gets deeply locked into memory while their immature logic can't yet reason it away. Protecting them from intense scares prevents lingering nocturnal anxiety and nightmares that their young minds simply aren't equipped to process.”.

We want Caldwell Zoo to keep regular daytime visits welcoming for young children by using gentle, seasonal decorations and reserving graphic or frightening displays for optional experiences that families can fully avoid without missing animal exhibits or essential visitor areas.